‘Outstanding’: Carlo Ancelotti singles out James Rodriguez for Everton praise at Tottenham

Everton won 1-0 at Tottenham yesterday to get their Premier League campaign off to the perfect start and give Carlo Ancelotti the ideal platform to build on.

The Italian boss included all his new signings in the starting XI, as Abdoulaye Doucoure, Allan, and James Rodriguez all started in the midfield to give the Toffees some added impetus.

All three put in fine performances and look like being superb pieces of business for the club. However, it was the performance of Rodriguez that caught the eye of Ancelotti, who praised the former Real Madrid man for his display.

“It’s football, the pitch is the same everywhere. But he has to adapt to his new team-mates and know their movements and his team-mates have to adapt to know his quality better.”

“He did four days of training and his performance was outstanding. This is what he can do on the pitch.”

Rodriguez created plenty of chances for his Everton teammates and, based on this performance, could prove to be one of the signings of the summer for the Toffees.

Having played under Ancelotti before and being at the best clubs in the world, Everton will be hoping he can drive them up the table. On the basis of just one performace, it lo0ks like he could do just that.

Outstanding is in understatement, Rodriguez was tremendous – TBR View

As debuts go, it couldn’t have gone much better for the Colombian star. He was brilliant all game and some of the passes he played into attacking areas were those of a world-class player.

He drifted between the lines and looked the real deal already. Give it a few weeks, and Rodriguez could well be running and winning games single-handedly.

Ancelotti was right to praise his new man and looking at yesterday, Everton have got a master craftsmen on their hands.

Have something to tell us about this article?
Let us know